'Mud, River, Stone' to play at Centenary Stage

HACKETTSTOWN — Centenary College Theater Department’s NextStage Repertory will present Lynn Nottage’s harrowing "Mud, River, Stone" Feb. 11-14.

Performed entirely by Centenary College Theater Students "Mud, River, Stone" begins with a notion: a romantic journey to Africa, an opportunity to get in touch with spiritual roots.

An African-American couple vacationing in Africa takes a turn off the main highway and finds themselves stranded during rainy season in the remnants of a grand hotel. The rundown colonial hotel's only inhabitants are a reticent bellhop and an outspoken white African businessman. As the rains continue, the guest list grows to include a Nigerian aid worker and a Belgian adventurer. The couple's comic and romantic adventure takes on absurd dimensions when the hotel guests are taken hostage by the angry bellhop. His demands are simple: He wants grain for his village and a wool blanket for his mother. The stakes increase when an international mediator arrives and tries to end the stand-off.

Performances are Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 12, and Saturday, Feb. 13, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 14, at 5 p.m.in The Little Theater, located in the Seay building at 400 Jefferson Street in Hackettstown.

Tickets for all performances are $12.50 for adults and $10 for children under 12. All ticket sales are final. For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.entenarystageco.org or call the CSC box office at 908-979–0900. The box office, located in the Lackland Center at 715 Grand Ave. in Hackettstown, is open Monday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. and two hours before every performance.